i listened to the stupid thing , so boring and repetitive ….I never did learn what oxidized cholesterol was ….did he sctally ever say ? He kept saying “ I’ll tell you in a minute…” sigh!
2.1. The Process of Oxidation
Oxidized cholesterol and oxidized fat are the enemies. In brief, these are fats that have lost so many electrons that they are no longer in their natural forms.
When iron is exposed to oxygen and water, it rusts. In chemical terms, the interaction between the iron and the oxygen and water starts a process of oxidation, wherein the oxygen and water rob the iron of electrons. The iron is being oxidized, because it is
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transferring its electrons to the oxygen and water, and the oxygen and water are being reduced, because they are accepting electrons from the iron.
The same happens when magnesium is mixed with oxygen. Magnesium is oxidized, because it transfers its electrons to the oxygen, and the oxygen is being reduced, because it is adding the magnesium's electrons to its own.
Oxidation also explains why silver tarnishes, why combustion engines put out energy, why TNT explodes, why our bodies can generate energy by burning food, and so on. In each of these processes, the substance that is being oxidized transfers electrons to a substance that is being reduced.
When food spoils, it loses some of its electrons to oxygen and other gases in the air. These gasses are oxidizing agents because they oxidize the food. The preservatives that manufacturers add to food are reducing agents, meaning that they have an over- abundance of electrons to give to the substance with which they are mixed. That is why, even if preservative-packed food loses electrons to oxygen while it ages, it does not go rancid, as the preservatives can donate electrons and thereby replace all the electrons it loses.
By now, most everyone has heard of the free radicals that age us and the antioxidants that slow this process down. The principal is exactly the same.
Oxygen molecules and other oxidizing agents (like sugar, hydroxyl radicals, and hydrogen peroxide molecules) are hungry for electrons and steal them from molecules in our healthy tissue. Scientists call these thieves reactive oxygen species (or ROS).
The molecules in our previously healthy cells now become free radicals, because they have lost electrons and want to replace them by stealing them from their neighboring molecules. When they steal electrons from their neighbors, those neighbors also become free radicals that replace their lost electrons by stealing from their neighbors. Entire cells and entire organs can be destroyed in this chain reaction.
Every molecule that is forced to transfer an electron is being oxidized. But our bodies have mechanisms to prevent some of this oxidation. They are called antioxidants.
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Antioxidants are substances that have plenty of electrons to donate. As a result, free radicals do not have to steal them from healthy tissue, as the antioxidants donate them freely. Similarly, oxidizing agents like reactive oxygen no longer steal electrons from healthy molecules, as the antioxidants can donate all the electrons they want.
It is worth noting that oxidation inside our bodies is not always bad. Our immune systems use oxidizing agents to rob viruses and bacteria of electrons until they die.
The important thing is for our bodies to maintain what scientists call a redox homeostasis, which means that the substances that are oxidized (losing electrons) and those that are reduced (gaining electrons) should balance.
If we eat too much of the substances that are oxidized and in turn oxidize others, we make it impossible for our bodies to maintain this balance.
On the other hand, if we eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables that contain natural antioxidants like vitamins C and E, we make it easier for our bodies to maintain this balance.
Fats and oils go through a similar process when they are oxidized. When they are mixed with oxidizing agents both inside and outside our bodies, they are robbed of the atoms in their fatty acid chains. This is what it means for a fat or oil to be oxidized. At first they are just slightly transformed to substances that differ in polarity and shape from the natural form in which they appear in plants and animals. Later, when enough atoms are missing, they are completely transformed.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids are the most vulnerable to oxidation
